


Confessor

by MiraMira



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Ghosts, Gift Fic, Missing Scene, Regret, Unrequited Love, Wordcount: 100-500
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-26
Updated: 2011-12-26
Packaged: 2017-10-28 03:49:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/303411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraMira/pseuds/MiraMira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If there is one piece of knowledge Ravenclaw's daughter can lay greater claim to than her mother, it is the consequences of possessiveness left unchecked.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Confessor

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ieke85 @ LJ and reposted with permission.

Helena comes across the Gryffindor girl crying at the top of a stairwell, its movement temporarily halted as she braces her head against the banister for support, red hair spilling over the edge.

“I’ve just lost my best friend,” she sobs by way of explanation, as she senses Helena’s presence and looks up. “Or he lost me, I suppose.” She clenches her fists, beating them against the sides of her legs. “Oh, why must he be so _stupid?_ ”

Before Helena can point out that she is not the Friar and therefore ill-equipped to deal with confessions, let alone eager to make the attempt, the rest of the girl’s story comes gushing forth along with more tears. But it is a story of childhood friendship, broken loyalties, and innocent faith gone unrewarded, and Helena’s attentiveness does not remain pretense for long.

“I told him we’d made our choices, but maybe I was wrong,” the girl finishes. “Maybe I’ve only made things worse by abandoning him. Maybe I should apologize.”

“No,” Helena says, surprising herself with the speech and the girl with her forcefulness. But she recognizes the boy now, has seen his possessive expression. And if there is one piece of knowledge Ravenclaw’s daughter can lay greater claim to than her mother, it is the consequences of possessiveness left unchecked. “The fault is his.”

-

A few years later (both a blip of passing seasons and an eon of eternal boredom as ghosts measure time), Helena encounters the new Potions professor weeping quietly in a corridor.

“She’s dead,” he chokes out when he spots her, apparently sensing recognition in her eyes. “She’s dead, and it’s all my fault.”

This time, Helena has no words or listening ear to spare. As she sweeps past him, in the distance, she can hear the clanking of the Baron’s chains.


End file.
